“Ready.”
I looked around to see Hazel holding on to Benedict, allowing herself to be dragged back to the bull-horse, but only holding onto the reins.
“Get up, Hazel!” I yelled. She wasn’t even looking at me—her gaze was fixed in terror at the forest ahead.
I heard whispering. I wasn’t sure if it was inside my head, or coming from the trees, but it was a multitude of indistinguishable voices—all hissing, crying, echoes of dead screams, roars of pain and death. What is this?
A great mass of shadow seemed to slither out from the forest floor, growing steadily larger and encompassing the treetops. The whispering increased — becoming louder and more insidious. I thought if I listened to it for another second it might drive me mad.
“Tejus! If the shadow touches you, you’re going to die!”
It was Benedict’s voice that warned me, just in time. The shadow was slowly growing closer till it was only a foot away from me. I swung out my sword instinctively, and the shadow jerked back. I sliced through air, moving my weapon with practiced motions. Ash did the same next to me, and the guards rushed forward with their swords wielded and ready. We chopped at the dark mass, swinging blindly—the only assurance that we were making any difference was the short jolts backward that the shadow made when it came into contact with our blades. But it kept coming.
I could feel sweat starting to trickle down my forehead and back, my arm growing weary. I didn’t dare syphon off Hazel—my only worry was that she wouldn’t make it out alive. The shadow was starting to close in on us, the whispers becoming mocking and teasing, laughing at our efforts to destroy them. It wasn’t the entity’s voice, I knew that much, but it was just as evil.
“Hazel! Get out of here!” I cried again, knowing that she was still behind me. I heard Ash do the same to Ruby, but they didn’t pay any attention to us. We were backing up toward them now, the shadow slowly herding us all together.
I moved next to Hazel, forcing her and Benedict to stand behind me.
“Ash, we need to get out of here!” Ruby yelled.
“I know!” he called back, swiping his sword furiously. “But I don’t know how!”
I looked around as I slashed my sword. The shadow had almost completely surrounded us. Only a small pool of light on the forest floor was left, the rest was covered in darkness. I held Hazel back with one hand, worried that she’d step out into its gloom. One of the guards screamed. I glanced over to see his body flying up in the air, carried on the shadow as if it were a wave, and then watched in horror as it was released abruptly. His body slammed to the floor. Hazel groaned in repulsion as his innards spilled out—he had been slashed across the chest.
I fought on, slashing more fervently at the black mass.
“It’s gaining on us!” Benedict yelled out.
I turned, just in time to see the shadow moving forward, heading for Benedict and Hazel. Before I could do anything, Hazel retrieved her mercy dagger and thrust it into thin air. As she did so, the whispering escalated into a scream. A man’s face appeared out of the shadow. It was contorted in a grimace, its eyes nothing but black holes. Its entire form seemed to be created from the shadow itself, only a shade of a man. The figure exploded into a black ash-like substance, floating into the air and then disappearing altogether.
The shadow retreated, but I had a feeling that our reprieve would be brief.
“Everybody leave!” I cried out, dragging Hazel to the nearest bull-horse and flinging her on behind me. She looked dazed—as confused as I was as to what exactly had attacked us. One of the guards grabbed her brother and the redhead. We galloped onto the path, the shadow and the whispering steadily regaining ground.
I held onto Hazel’s hands, clasped around my waist.
I had sworn on my life that I would keep her safe, but once again she had been put in the path of danger and I had been unable to fully protect her. What good was my love if it couldn’t accomplish that one thing?
I could still feel the sensation of the evil we had left behind. Was that the army that had risen from the sea? An indestructible force that didn’t even have flesh in which we could bury our weapons? I had assumed that whatever the entity brought forth would be a force to be reckoned with. But to see something so unnatural, so out of the realm of any enemy I had encountered before, sent another chill racing down my spine.
Rose
I groaned, lifting my head off the floor.
What happened?
I rubbed my eyes and tried to sit up. My head felt woozy, and I had a headache. I looked over to the still form next to me, relieved it was one I recognized.
“Caleb?” I placed my hand on my husband’s arm, urging him to wake up. He opened his eyes, looking up at me in confusion.